RIGHT back to my youth, when it was my local, the Nag's Head at Borrowash has had a good reputation for its Marston's Pedigree.

It's an old-fashioned Marston's house, with separate, well-defined bar and lounge, well-established from the days before Marston's were quite as big as they are these days.

I popped back this week, for the first time in many years, at the invitation of Rob Brentnall, who has owned the lease on the pub for four years. Things have been going very well since he installed Chris and Pauline Young as managers a couple of years ago.

Rob had never had a pub but knew a good few people in the trade to turn to for advice.

He keeps the Pedigree in the cellar for a week before putting it on, helping it to settle down and mature.

At the Nag's, the Pedigree outsells everything else put together by two to one, but I was also impressed by the less powerful Marston's Burton Bitter, a much-underrated beer, and Rob is keen to work his way through the brewery's list of guests. You can't succeed on beer alone, however, and the Nag's, which benefits from a prominent position on the main road in the village, with a good-sized car park, piles up the entertainment options to keep customers interested.

"You've got to give people a reason to come out – they can easily find reasons to stay in," says Rob.

So, you'll get live bands, comedians and a generally lively atmosphere in the bar and a quiet place to chat in the lounge, unless the rugby is on telly on a Sunday afternoon. There's food available in both.

"We try to get bands who play their own songs, rather than people with backing tracks," says Rob, instantly appealing to a large number of discerning people, I suspect. "I like the idea of the old-style Talk of the Midlands type thing. Something in a basket to eat with the entertainment."

What I liked about the Nag's Head more than anything upon my return was that it hardly seems to have changed.

Decorated, obviously, but it was a proper village local 30 years ago and it still is now.